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Chapter eight
Thewalktothehospital was unbelievably uneventful. What happened to the townspeople? Where did they go? Why aren’t there any zombies roaming the streets? It felt too easy, and I didn’t like it, not one bit. When we reached the four-story hospital, we could see that all of the glass on the main level was broken and appeared abandoned. The building was small enough that I knew it wouldn’t take us long to search it from top to bottom.
The glass crunched under our feet as we went inside, sounding like a bomb going off to my ears. As we moved further into the lobby, I kept my eyes peeled, waiting for something to jump out at us. When a few minutes passed, and nothing did, I began to relax.
“Ok,” Caleb said as I studied the hospital map in the lobby's center, “we’re going to look for transportation. We will meet right back here, so if we aren’t back by the time you’re done searching the hospital, don’t go anywhere.”
My head snapped up to look at him. “I’m sorry, what? We can’t split up.”
“Relax, Bailey,” Pike said as he put an arm around my shoulders. “Caleb and Boone can handle themselves while the three of us go through this place with a fine-toothed comb.”
“But we don’t know what’s out there,” I protested. “What if they run into a whole army of zombies and need our help? What if we do? We’re stronger and safer together.”
“Baby,” Caleb crooned as he slowly wrapped his arms around me and pulled me forward into his chest. “Are you worried about us again? You keep that up, and I’m going to start to think you like us,” he teased.
I smacked my hand to his chest playfully. “Was that not obvious? I don’t let just anyone live in my house.” I smiled up at him, batting my eyelashes. “So what do you say we make this whole trip a group effort and stick together?” I felt hands come from behind me and slide from my hips to my stomach. Boone pressed himself against me, sandwiching me between him and Caleb. I briefly wondered when the hell I had gotten used to their touches but shoved that line of thought away. The last thing I needed was a panic attack from overthinking it.
“Honey Bee, this will go faster if we split up. That way, we know if hitting the home improvement store is even possible,” Boone said, his lips brushing against my ear. “You want to return to Matty as fast as possible, right?” My worries quickly redirected to Matty, home alone with an injured Gray. If someone stopped by the house like that family did, there could be problems.
“You’re right. This isn’t a vacation. We need to be quick about this,” I agreed. I stepped out from between them and returned to the map, committing all the hallways, stairwells, and rooms to memory as best I could. Maybe I should have Pike and Ethan memorize their own floor so I didn’t have to. I chuckled at that thought, as if I could relinquish that kind of control and go in blind.
“Ok, so it’s settled then. We’ll meet you here when we’re done, hopefully with a vehicle of some kind,” Boone said.
“Mmhmm, sounds good. Just be careful, and don’t dawdle,” I replied. “Oh, and Boone?” I turned to look back at him. “Don’t use my worry for my brother to distract me from my worry about you all. I don’t appreciate being manipulated.”
The surprise was etched into his face at my words. “Bailey, I didn’t mean to—"
“Yes, you did,” I said, cutting him off. “You may have done it innocently enough, but that is exactly what you intended to do when you brought him up. And it worked. Kudos to you. I’m not mad about it. I would just appreciate it if you didn’t make it a habit. I’ve had Matty’s safety held over my head to control me ever since this whole fucked up world began. I don’t need any more of it.”
Boone looked like he was going to be sick, and the others were studying their feet like there was going to be a quiz. My heart squeezed, and I walked over to him and stood on my tiptoes to kiss him lightly on the lips. His eyes widened in shock, so I winked at him before backing away. “Pike, Ethan, let’s go.” They hurried to follow me to the stairwell, and Pike placed a hand on my shoulder to keep me back as Ethan stepped inside to check it out.
Ethan gave the all-clear, and Pike stepped through the door. I took a moment to look back at Boone and Caleb’s retreating backs. I hated splitting up, but their reasoning was sound, and I knew they could take care of themselves. They’d managed it all these years without me, and if this relationship had any chance of working, I would need to learn to trust them and trust in their abilities.
“Hey,” Ethan said softly, touching my hand, “they really are going to be ok. Come on. If we don’t find all the shit on Gray’s wish list, he will become even more insufferable than he already is.” I smiled at him and joined him and Pike in the stairwell.
“What’s the plan?” Pike whispered.
“We should start at the top floor and work our way down. It’s much easier to carry shit down with us than to lug it up and then back down again.”
“Sounds good, Pike, lead the way,” Ethan said.
“How about you lead the way,” Pike responded.
“How about I lead the way? Then you can both stare at my ass,” I said, rolling my eyes and starting up the stairs. When we reached the next floor, I peeked through the little rectangular window and didn’t see anything. I carefully turned the doorknob to make sure we could get in. It turned easily, and I opened the door to listen. I heard no noise and closed the door again, ensuring it latched. I didn’t want any surprises later on.
We continued up the stairs, testing each floor until we reached the fourth floor. “Ok, this floor was the maternity ward. Let’s make sure it’s clear first. Then we can go through room by room and collect anything useful now or in the future.” They nodded at me, and I pulled the door open. We entered a deserted waiting room with a nurse's station behind a counter. The doors that let you into the floor were shut.
They were those electric security doors that you had to be buzzed through. I remembered going through similar doors when Matty was born. “I’ll get the doors,” Pike whispered. I watched as he hopped the counter, landed quietly on the other side, and disappeared through another door.
“We could all just hop the counter,” I told Ethan.
“Let him get the door. If we run into trouble, running through the open door will be easier than jumping over the counter.” I shrugged and waited for Pike to come back. Just as I was getting nervous, the doors began to push open. Ethan and I ran over to help him, and once we got them opened all the way, I heard a click as some mechanism caught, and they stayed open on their own.
“Sorry it took so long. I ran into a nurse and had to put her down,” Pike told us. Finally! A fucking zombie. It was beginning to freak me out. We encountered two other zombies who had been patients wandering around their rooms. Once we were sure we were the only ones moving around, we began combing through the rooms. I ignored the tiny bones in the little bassinets in the nursery, unwilling to think too long about abandoned babies. The third lesson of the zombie apocalypse was obvious: Children don’t belong here.
All the baby stuff wasn’t helpful, so we left it all, searching instead for things we could use. I pulled a sizeable empty duffle from my backpack and began grabbing any medication I came across and all the baby blankets. You could never have too much linen, and with six of us living in the house now, we would need all we could find.
Once we had cleaned out the floor, we headed back to the stairwell. On the way, we passed a little pantry with vending machines. “Wait!” Ethan said excitedly. I watched as he jimmied open the soda machine and grabbed a can of Grape soda. He grinned at us as he popped the tab and took a large mouthful. I would have started with a small sip.
